05/10/2010

Your Inner Child Needs Help

It always baffles me that people who seem so tuned into books, movies, art and literature, and have strong opinions about each that they can articulate, claim to be so adrift in the world of children's picture books--and so demonstrably so. I have received some really wrong-headed gifts for my son from really smart people--people who like children and can relate to them, people who have nicely decorated homes and beautiful art collections. For example, a person who knows me very well, and knows what I do for a living, bought my son a Corduroy book. Oh, I like the original Corduroy just fine. But I'm not talking about Don Freeman's books:

I'm talking about one of these babies:

This actually isn't the worst example. I'm not blaming the creators for this--it's just soulless. The book above is the kind of book that's a result of "group edit." I'm sure everyone had a say in the content, cover and art choices in the book--sales,marketing, design and editorial. Sometimes collaboration can work, but often in these kinds of scenarios what we're looking at is a lot of people with limited time on their hands making quick decisions and often undoing decisions that took a lot of thought and care. And what's more, these books that are created based on successful characters from years ago are being done as "work for hire." There are a lot of good writers and artists who do this kind of work and I'm sure there are even some books based on commercial properties that are successful in some ways. But again, the initial vision suffers from the insight of "too many cooks" and the character itself often loses the essential kernel of what brought him charm in the first place, because he's been completely divorced from his creator.

So this post is my plea to you aesthetically astute ones out there who are choosing a book--because books are good!--for a young relative or friend. Read the book. Look at the book. Love the book before you buy it. There are a ton of 'em out there and some real gems among them. And picture books are short! It shouldn't take you long to read a few. If you care about the art on your walls and the color scheme of your comforter, then you should care about the piece of art that you are putting into a kid's hands (unless you have some evil scheme to make your least favorite cousin's kid grow up with abysmal taste, then carry on). It's not that hard. The art should be pretty and have a good sense of color--even if it's limited color, black and white can be okay, too!--and tell a good story. And the text should have imaginative rhymes (if it rhymes) and a good, solid rhythm or should get its point across succinctly and effectively. I think the best picture book texts (rhyming or not) often have lines or images that stay in my head long after I've finished them--hey! Just like your favorite poems and novels! Kids deserve good art, too. And it really is okay to enjoy a book marketed for people 2-5 even if your 25-40.